The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State, has given Justice Inyang Okoro, of the Supreme Court, one week to withdraw the bribery allegation he made against the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, or be ready to go to jail, for contravening the Corrupt Practices And Other Related Offence Act 2000.

The party further wondered why Amaechi, or anybody should attempt to bribe Justice Okoro, for an election upturned by both the Tribunal and the Appeal Court. An election widely condemned by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

This was made known in a statement signed by the State APC Chairman, Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, on Thursday afternoon.

The statement berated Justice Okoro, for his wild and baseless allegation, as contained in his letter to the National Judicial Council, NJC, following his recent arrest by the Department of State Service, DSS, for alleged corruption.

The party noted that while the judgement in the Rivers State Governorship election dispute, was given by the Supreme Court, on January 27, 2016, Justice Okoro in his letter to the NJC, claimed that Amaechi tried to bribe him on February 1, 2016, to influence a ruling made four days earlier, and nine months, to alert the public about the alleged bribery attempt.

“One does not need a soothsayer to see that Justice Okoro is very confused, and thinks that by mentioning the name of Amaechi in his letter, he would deceive Nigerians, and play down the gravity of his sins and crimes against Rivers State people, and Nigeria as a whole,” the Rivers APC said.

Continuing, the statement said: “If we may ask Justice Okoro, why should Amaechi or anybody attempt to bribe him for an election upturned by both the Tribunal and the Appeal Court? An election widely condemned by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the international community, and both local and foreign observers, who monitored the shambolic exercise in the course of which over 200 of our members were slaughtered like chicken, just to install Chief Nyesom Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in power at all cost?”

The Rivers APC, drew Justice Okoro’s attention to the provisions of the Corrupt Practices And Other Related Offence Act 2000, which makes failure to report bribery, or a bribery attempt, a crime that attracts both a fine, and a jail term.

The party commended the DSS, for taking the bold step to bring corrupt Judges to justice. It urged the NJC, “not only to assist the Federal Government in this fight against crimes against our nation, but to also overturn the injustices meted to the various States and organs by these agents of darkness in the Judiciary, as this is the only way to atone for the blood of our dead members shed with impunity, during the discredited 2015 elections, in Rivers State.”